Molding apparatus



Allg'. 8, J. W. SCOTT MOLDING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 24, 1951 ZZ f77' z2ing a mold cavity and depressed cover seatingy Patentedr Aug. 8', 1933g'UNITED MQLDlNG APPARATUS James W. Scott, Chicago, Ill., assignor toWestern Electric Company, Incorporated, New York,

' N. Y., a Corporation ofk New York A Applikation February 24,1931.serial No.'517',7o4

'I Kirolaims. (ci. ,2z- 143) Thisl invention relates to. moldingapparatus,`

and more ,particularly to-horizontal type ingot molds for castingcopper. .f

' Y TheobjeCt of this invention is to provide an improved horizontaltype mold -by means of whichcopper ingotsmay be produced havingincreased density and workability, 'electrical con- Yductivity and aminimum of wrinkled and oxidiz'ed surfaces.

L In accordance with the general features of -this invention, inoneembodimentthereof as applied particularlyto the casting of toughpitch or de-4 f.- oxidized-copper `in commercial shapes, such as wirebars', cakes or ingots, there'is provided a:

:mold comprising a horizontal body member hav-V ledges which extendaround the inner surfaces of the side and end walls and are inclineddownwardly from opposite points adjacent the center of the body memberto the ends thereof. Separate lcovers are held against the ledges, eachof which extends from one end of thebody to the beginning of theinclined'ledge.

covers, through which the molten metal may be poured, the top of theopening Vbeing above the beginning ofthe inclined lower surface of thecovers which form `upper wall portions of the mold cavity, so that anyshrinkage of. the' cast metal will occur in the metal between Vthese twopoints. Thisvwill cause aslight projection at the `center of theingotwhich may be'removed with-4 outv impairing'the strength or qualityof there-v .closely against each of the ledges 16 are cover maining portion ofthe ingot. Y

According to another embodiment of this inventiOn, the body member isformed with a single continuous depressed cover seating ledge extendingaround the/inner Vsurfaces of the sidesand oneend wall and inclineddownwardly from a point adjacent the opposite end wall.y yA' singlecoverisl held against thefledge which leaves an opening at one endv ofthe bodythroughwhich molten metal :may 'be,poured, the 'beginning oftheV inclined lower lsurface of the cover Vwhich I below the tcp of theopening similar tothat of Vthe first embodiment and for the samepurpose.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appearfrom `the following de-` in Figs.4, 5 and 6.

Vand having a mold cavity 11.

This'leaves a central opening between the adjacent ends ofthe forms anupper wfalljofA themold cavity being Figq'2 isla side elevation thereof,partly `in Y. y Y ers at the points 17, through which opening the y110Fig. 3 isY an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-,3 ofFig.2;Y I

Fig. 4 is asideelevation, partly in section, of a Ymodified form `of themold shown 'inFigsg 1, 2and3; 60

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view thereof; Fig.- 6 is anenlargedvertical section taken on the line 6 6 ofFig. 4, and y.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, of ainodifiedform-lof the mold shown 1 65 Referring now to the drawing indetail, particularly to Figs. 2 and 3,' 10 isa horizontal in-V tegralbody member, vpreferably ofcast copper Opposite side walls p 12 of thebody member 10 y(Fig. 3) are tapered `slightly inwardly from the uppervportion to a bottom wall 13 thereof vand portions of the bottom wallareinclined slightly upwardlyadjacent each endwall 14 (Fig.'2) andthelatter walls are in- 75 clinedslightly outwardly, all'for the purpose offacilitating the removal ofthe ingot cast in the mold. Formed in theVupper inner edges of the side and end walls 12 and 14, respectively,are continuous depressed cover seating Y ledges 16. ,80

.The ledges 16 begin at points l'lof portions 1,8

(Fig. 1) of the side-walls at the center of the Vbody member 10 andextend along one side wall 12, the end wall 14 and the opposite sidewall12,

and-are inclined downwardly from the points 17` 85 to theend `walls 14for a purpose to be described hereinafter. f 1 l f Mounted in the,` bodymember'lO and fitting plates 20 ymade of copper, the lower surfaces of`90 which form downwardly inclined'upper wall portions for the moldcavity 11. The cover plates 2) are clamped against vthe ledges by meansof steel" clamping bars 421 extending transversely of thebody member 10and held in position by v(2f-95 shaped clamping members 22(Fig.3),:which at their upper ends engage opposite ends ofthe bars 21, thelatter being spaced from the upper-surl face ofthe body member 1G.Attheir lower ends Y `the clampingfmembers .'22 are equipped withloomolten metal is poured to form an ingot 28.

Due to the horizontal mold cavity 11 at either side of the opening 27being inclined downwardly an effect similar to a vertical type of moldis obtained. In the vertical mold it will be apparent, due to the depththereof, that an ingot having a maximum of density will be cast and onewith smooth and uniform surfaces throughout, except for one end, whichcan be cropped off.

In a horizontal type mold with the mold cavity arranged in the mannerherein described an increased density of the ingot will result and theshrinkage of the cast metal will occur in the metal between the top ofthe opening 27 and the beginning of the downwardly inclined upper wallportions of the mold cavity 11 provided by the lower surfaces of thecover plates 20, the latter occurring below the top of the opening. Anywrinkled and oxidized surfaces will thus be confined to this portionofthe ingot at the opening 27 and a slight projection or protuberance 29occuring at this point may be removed without impairing the strength orquality of the remaining portion of the ingot.

When casting, for example, deoxidizedcopper ingots wherein a greatervolume of metal will be effected byl shrinkage than can probably beaccommodated in the projection of metal 29 between the top of theopening 27 and the beginning of the downwardly inclined upper wallportions of the-mold cavity a modified form of body member- `and coversmay be used. In this proposed form of mold the portions 18 of the sideVwalls 12 of the body member 10 between the points 17 are` extendedupwardly and the inner adjacent ends of the cover lplates 20 areprovided with upwardly yandtransversely extending.

portions aligned at their upper ends with the upper ends of the sidewall extensions. This arrangement, it will be apparent, will accommodatea greater volume of metal above the beginl ning of the downwardlyinclined upper wall portions of the mold cavity than can be accommo--dated in the mold shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,

and consequently will be able to absorb a greater amount of shrinkagewithout aifecting the metal below the upper wall portions ofthe moldcavity.

In Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is illustrated another embodiment of this inventionwherein a single continuous depressed cover seating ledge 30 is formedin the inner upper edges of side walls 31 and one end wall 32 of ahorizontal integral body member 33 having a mold cavity 34. The

ledge 30 begins at points 35 of the side walls 31 adjacent an end wall36 and extends along one side wall 31, the end wall 32 and the oppositeside wall 31 and is inclined downwardly from the points 35 for a purposesimilar to that described in connection with the first embodiment.Fitting closely against the ledge 30 is an arched cover plate 37provided with a longitudinally eX- tending vertical rib 38 upon itsupper surface, the arching of the cover and the rib serving to minimizedistortion of the cover caused by repeated heating thereof and therebyreducing the formation of iins upon the cast ingots. The lower surfaceof the cover 37 forms a single inclined upper wall for the mold cavity34. A bottom wall 39 of the mold cavity 34 has preferably an inclinationsimilar to that of the lower surface of the cover plate 37, although itmay The cover plate 37 may be secured in place against the ledge 30 in amanner similar to that disclosed in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive. An opening40 is formed between the end of the cover plate 37 at the points 35 andthe end wall 36, through which opening the molten metal is poured toform an ingot 41.v

In another form of thisinvention .(Fig. 7) it is proposed to extend thebody member 33, of the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, atits right to provide a continuous single mold cavity 42 served by asingle opening 43 for pouring the molten metal. The extended portion ofthev mold cavity 42 will be substantially complementaryto `the moldcavity 34, having a downwardly inclined lower wall beginning at theright side of the kopening 43, which opening will be arrangedVintermediate the ends of the body member, the top of the opening beingabove the beginning of the inclined lower surfaces of a pair of covers44 mounted against ledges in amanner similar to that of the hereinbeforedescribed embodiment of the invention. The lower surfaces ci the covers-44 will form` the. upper wall portions of the mold cavity 42. AThebottom ingot may be cast, which may be severed at each sideof theprojection occurring across the-opening between the covers 44 to providetwo similar.-

ingots of the quality provided by the previously described molds, andthe section of metal formed by the severing will contain alltheshrinkage of the two ingots. This type of mold will be particularlyuseful when casting copper ingotsv wherein a greater volume of'metalwill be effected by shrinkage, such as occurs in thecasting ofdecXidized copper ingots, in which-case the section of metal extendingfrom thetop of the covers at the opening to the bottom wall of the moldcavity will beample to absorbrall shrinkage. y

Although the invention as herein described and illustrated isparticularly well adapted for casting copper wire bars, it will beunderstoodl that the inventionis capable of other applications and thatmodificationsV canbe made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

- What is claimed is:

1. A mold having a mold cavity and provided with downwardly inclinedcover supporting surfaces extending from adjacent -points between theends of the cavity to the ends thereof;:and covers supported thereon toform downwardly in".v clined spaced upper wallportions for the moldcavity. V y

2. A mold comprising a body member having a mold cavity, the walls ofthe memberf having downwardly inclined ledges extending there# aroundfrom opposite points adjacent the .center of the cavity to the endsthereof, and cover members engaging the ledges to form downwardlyinclined upper wall portions for the mold cavity at each side of thecenter thereof and an operiing between the adjacent ends of theV coversthrough which molten metal may be poured.

3. A mold comprising a horizontal'body member having a mold cavity,vertical walls of the member having downwardly inclined surfaces at Bymeans oftheir upper edges extendingfrom pointsadjacent the center of thecavity to the ends thereof, and cover members engaging the said surfacesto form downwardly inclined spaced upper wallportions for themold'cavity. y

4. A mold comprising a body member havingy a mold cavity, the walls ofthe memberv having vdownwardly inclined surfaces extending from pointsadjacent the center of the cavity to the ends thereof, and cover membersengaging the saidsurfaces toform downwardly inclined spaced upper wallportions for the `mold cavity with an vsov " r15o p

